Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging former President Donald Trump to share his secret peace plan that he claims would end the war with Russian invaders.
“He can publicly share his idea now, not waste time, not to lose people, and say, ’My formula is to stop the war and stop all this tragedy and stop Russian aggression,’” Mr. Zelenskyy told CNN on Tuesday. “And he said, how he sees it, how to push Russians from our land. Otherwise, he’s not presenting the global idea of peace.”
Mr. Zelenskyy said that taking some of the Ukrainian land and giving it to Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not the peace formula.”
The former president has said in multiple interviews that he could end the war between Ukraine and Russia if he got both presidents in the room. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, he said that if he gets elected, he would resolve the war within 24 hours, although he did not reveal what his plan would be.
“If I tell you exactly, I lose all my bargaining chips,” he said. “I mean, you can’t really say exactly what you’re going to do. But I would say certain things to Putin. I would say certain things to Zelenskyy.”
When asked whether his plan would include letting Mr. Putin take the land, he replied, “No, no. I’d make a fair deal for everybody. Nope, I’d make it fair.”
Mr. Zelenskyy’s interview on CNN came after he spoke in New York at the UN General Assembly, accusing Russia of “genocide” and calling on world leaders to unite to “defeat the aggressor.”
He will be traveling Thursday to Washington, where he will speak with President Biden at the White House before heading to Capitol Hill to speak at an all-senators meeting. He will also meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Mr. Biden has asked Congress to approve an additional $24 billion in aid for Ukraine. House Republicans have taken a staunch position against the emergency funds.
“It’s so difficult to understand when you are in war, and when you are not in war,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in the TV interview. “Even when you come to the war, to the country which is in war, when you come to one day, you can understand more than you live, you hear, you think, you read. No, you can’t compare. It’s a different situation. That’s why I’m thinking we can’t compare these challenges.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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